DuPont wins global ban on rival product over stolen trade secrets

US chemicals giant DuPont has won a 20-year global ban on a Kevlar rival product made by South Korea-based Kolon industries after a court found Kolon had stolen its trade secrets. (AFP Photo/Herwig Vergult)

US chemicals giant DuPont has won a 20-year global ban on a Kevlar rival product made by South Korea-based Kolon industriesafter a court found Kolon had stolen its trade secrets.

“The trial court ordered Kolon to not produce, market or sell any para-aramid fiber products, worldwide, for 20 years,” Thomas Sager, DuPont’s general counsel, said in a statement Friday.

“It also permanently enjoined Kolon from using any of the trade secrets it stole from DuPont,” he added.

The ruling, issued late Thursday by a US federal court in Richmond, Virginia, followed Kolon’s trial loss in September 2011 when a jury found it had stolen DuPont’s trade secrets on the manufacture of Kevlar aramid fiber.

Kolon, which produces and sells Heracron aramid fiber, has been ordered to pay more than $920 million in damages and interest.

Sagar said that the federal court gave Kolon until October 1 to remove and return DuPont’s trade secrets or face contempt proceedings.

Kevlar, an antiballistic fiber used in military and police gear, also is used in a number of products, including tires, fiber optic cables and spacesuits.

In 2009, DuPont filed a civil lawsuit against Kolon after discovering a former employee had been hired by Kolon in 2007 and shared several of DuPont’s trade secrets.

The ex-employee, Michael Mitchell, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2010 to 18 months in prison.